Reviews from various genres, read at the speed of light.

Haven Moore has been having visions of her past life in New York City, when she was a woman named Constance in love with a guy named Ethan, since she was a little kid. Back in the day they were members of the Ouroboros Society, which was dedicated to past life issues. After the founder died and Ethan inherited his fortune, he was accused of murdering him. Soon after that, he and Constance die in a mysterious fire.

Unfortunately, in this life Haven lives in a small Southern town where her grandmother dominates her life and everyone thinks she's possessed by a demon when she does it. When Haven sees Ethan again--this time he's a rich playboy named Iain Morrow-- on the television, she now knows who to look for. And after the entire town starts hating her guts (except for her best friend Beau, and the snake charming Frizzell family, who have alternative beliefs, and classmate Leah is a psychic who warns her about a bad man looking for her), she eventually takes off with her savings to NYC to track Iain down. After a ridiculously easy* bit of finding him, and he recognizes her because he remembers all of his past lives, the two happily reunite and fly off to Rome.

* I need to grumble about something for a bit: this prompted my friend and I to have a long discussion as to how the hell a girl in this situation would manage to meet the guy, given that he's famous. Iain made sure he was in the media so Haven could eventually spot him, and it works on that level. But if you knew you were the soul mate of a famous guy, how on earth could a non-famous girl even get into his atmosphere to get his attention? And that's assuming that Iain knew enough to recognize her at first sight, which makes it a lot easier than if she actually had to try talking to him. I kept thinking, "What, security guards aren't fending off tons of hot chicks also thinking the same thing and trying to do what you are doing?" (The only solution I was able to come up with was an article I came across a few days later. The solution is: "it's not stalking if you're ALSO famous!" Uh, yeah, that'll work for a small town girl from Tennessee.) So the fact that she pretty much instantly finds Iain and security isn't a problem made me pretty damn annoyed and threw me out of the story for a bit..

The lovebirds' state of affairs doesn't last too long, as Iain has been accused of murder AGAIN. This time of a friend's boyfriend, Jeremy Johns, an OS member who's gone missing. Iain definitely has been lying to Haven about a few things, and he really wants to keep her out of the camera's eye. There is enough reasonable and suspicious information to make Haven all kinds of confused as to whether or not her eternal boyfriend is a killer. She also investigates the OS, who has undergone far less pleasant changes since she was last there. Now it's all about "doing favors", and her rival for Ethan's affections is there once again. Things get very confusing and creepy all around.

I really enjoyed reading the book, and hell, I'm rereading it again right now. The past life plot intrigued the hell out of me, and I really felt Haven's drive to find the guy she'd been missing all of her life, and to figure out what the hell is going on. I felt how she had those urges that she couldn't explain and made people think she was crazy. Her best friend Beau is an entertaining fellow in his own right, and backs her up to the hilt while still keeping her as grounded as he can manage. And I found Iain very interesting, albeit it was kind of frustrating to figure out what you felt about him given the murder plot thing. I didn't have quite so
much of a problem with Haven's constant mind changing about him, mostly because shoot, the
situation IS genuinely confusing. I have read books that puled off the
"does he love me or is he a bad guy" debate better, though (particularly
Time and Time Again by Dennis Danvers, which has similar past life
subject matter. I wish I could dig up my copy and review it here). Mostly while I enjoy the hell out of the romance when it's happening, it's also hard to invest in it when half the time you're pretty convinced Iain's done something bad.

But there are issues of realism here and there at times, like the aforementioned fame problem. And while yes, I've certainly heard that small Southern towns are superuberChristian, after awhile it just got kind of ridiculous at how the entire town except for Beau and the Frizzells thought Haven was possessed by a demon/a devil herself. I do contend with many other reviews that this part drags on a bit longer than it needed to. After awhile I was all, "okay, we get it, town is evil, let's move her out of there." I sort of wonder about having Haven as a 17-year-old girl in this story.
This is a pretty complicated story to give to a sheltered small town
girl to have to figure out for herself, plus I kept thinking that there
had to be some legal way to bust Haven back home.

So on the good column: characters, atmosphere, pace. On the bad column:
oh-my-word-will-she-make-up-her-mind, Haven's crazy hometown. Half of
THE ETERNAL ONES's love story makes me swoon. The other half makes me
wonder why I'm supposed to believe in this eternal love when Haven
doesn't seem to be giving it much of a chance. But on the whole, I
devoured THE ETERNAL ONES. Miller's writing is compelling.

I'll give it three and a half stars, and I'll definitely want the sequel.

As far as I can tell this flick is getting NO PUBLICITY WHATSOBLOODYEVER, which is a real shame. But Rob Reiner made a movie of Flipped. I just saw it. It is the best and most accurate of an adaptation of a book I have ever seen in my life. Very few changes, book dialogue is used throughout, plot is 99% the same. The only "major" difference is that the movie is set (mostly) in 1963, but considering how the book was pretty timeless (everybody isn't on the computer 24-7, the most "modern" aspect is that the twins are in a punk band), it really works. It also makes the "box lunch" scene make a lot more sense in context.

This is the 10-years-later sequel to Lord Perfect (and Mr. Impossible), featuring the kids from LP. AND IT'S AWESOME AND EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED IN A FOLLOWUP CHARACTER BOOK. This couple (and Dillie from Welcome To Temptation) are my top folks on my list of Books Where I Want A Sequel With The Kids Someday.

So, it's ten years later: Peregrine (now mostly going by "Lisle") has spent most of his time in Egypt, having a blast and getting to stay the hell away from his drama king-n-queen parents. Olivia has been having as much fun as she can squeeze into a restrained single female's existence and going through engagements like water, but she still loves and adores Lisle. However, she'd never interfere with his calling to go to Egypt.

When Lisle briefly (he thinks) returns to England for Great-Grandmama's birthday, he's bowled over by the now-hot Olivia, and they pick up their adventurous friendship, which has mostly been limited to letters for years, up. However, Lisle's arrival annoys one of Olivia's suitors, they get into a fight, and Lisle's crazy parents lay down the law: you do as we want or we cut you off, period. And what they want is for Lisle to go fix up a family castle in Scotland that seems to be having a ghost problem. Olivia, being a master schemer and people-reader par excellance, arranges to go along with him. Chaperoned, of course...by Great-Grandmama's slutty, dirty-talking friends. I'M NOT KIDDING, IT'S HILARIOUS.

(You may wonder, what parents would allow these chaperones to go along with two hot kids on a trip? Well, there is a reason for that you find out halfway...)

And this book is tons and tons of fun. This does the "Uptight Meets Wild" trope in a fabulous manner (again, better than Lord Perfect did). Olivia is tons and tons of fun to read about, and I must have been giggling every 30 seconds from when I started the book. This is the sort of girl who can smartly wheedle you out of a situation...or just throw something at a guy's head. She's awesome and tricksy and brilliant, and Lisle, though he's more on the reasonable side, balances her well and has a crazy side of his own when he's with her. They are beyond adorable. The romance is steamy and fun and has a pretty good balance of "reasons why we shouldn't be together" while still uh, taking into account that it is a romance novel and we know where that's going.

It's lots of fun. I haven't had this much fun since Mr. Impossible. Five stars.

Summarizing this book is pretty easy: Joanne tracks a wendigo. Which isn't a god or anything as uber-impressive as she's fought before, but this time there's the added problem of this thing just won't DIE. And the local Lois Lane won't leave her alone as she tracks the story. Joanne also has two blasts-from-the-past: one being someone she would have been happy never to have seen again, and the other being the return of her presumed-dead mentor Coyote. (Chill out, spoiler folks: that last bit happened early on. It's fair game.) Joanne hops into a relationship with him while roaming through the woods and the Lower World trying to track the wendigo down.

I think I am having issues reviewing the books at this point because I keep thinking, "Huh, I don't remember the stuff about Joanne's mother happening," and "How old IS Coyote?" and stuff like that, and I feel like I am missing some details. Okay, so I read the first three books awhile back, but still.

On the plus side: damn, that wendigo is HARD TO FIGHT AND KILL. I felt like this was more of a battle in some ways than in other books. I also liked the character of Mandy. And Coyote as an actual real life character works well.

On the minus side, I dearly missed the cop half of Joanne's paranormal fighting gang during the second half of the book. I also sort of wish that the character of Laurie Corvallis had more to her than just being REALLY REALLY REALLY RABID TO GET THE STORY. Towards the end it looks like she might get more character development, and if she's going to continue in the series I certainly hope she gets it.

(Can I ask what's with this title? No witch seems to get woken in this book. I just wanted to ask.)

Witch Savannah Levine has been a continuing supporting character in this series since she was orphaned at age 12, but this is her first narration. She's been raised by paranormal PI's, and now that she's 21, she works for them. While Paige and Lucas are on vacation, Savannah's very eager to prove herself, by herself. So when an associate of Lucas's named Jesse comes in with a case of three dead women in a small town, smacking of magic stuff, Savannah is all gung-ho to do it.

Savannah is a young badass (rolls around on her motorcycle proudly) and it seems a wee bit put on at times so she can be tough, but she is sensible enough to reach for help when she needs it. She teams up with Jesse, as well as Michael Kennedy, a human cop trying to find out who murdered his sister. On the phone regularly is Adam, Savannah's longtime crush. Savannah doesn't exactly make friends in the town too well, other than with one murder victim's young daughter. The town sheriff is a difficult guy to work with. There's a local "cookie cult" where the charismatic fiftysomething guy is clearly boffing most of his young female acolytes. The richest guy in town (and boinkbuddy of a murder victim) and his wife are very hostile.

I'm not sure how I feel about Savannah yet, I guess she seems a wee bit "poser"-y to me. Which is understandable, since she's trying to prove her independence in this book big time. She seems to get more "real" by the end, which I liked. And I did like the twist that the ending had with the villain, plus it was a pretty memorable scene for me. That was the point where the story got gripping for me. But it's not over...

The main problem with this book is that it is the first book of a trilogy. Since that's the case, there isn't much of a romance (it feels like it is barely warming up by book's end), some loose ends of the mysteries aren't wrapped up, and it ends on a cliffhanger that will shock regular readers of the series. I was relieved to hear more Savannah books were going to be done after that. And there is one strange plothole (let's just say that one can't figure out how that particular act happened when the person who did it was incapacitated).

I'm giving it three and a half stars overall. Not bad, but there's been better.

Previous book here. I am going to have to second the "acid trip" comments I made on the previous cover, as they apply to this one too. I feel like I'm watching a magic show on LSD when I look at this. Publishers, please take note. Thank you.

Given how the previous book ended, I think I'll have to spoiler-cut this one.... note: the farther down you go, the more spoiler-ish it'll get about the last half of the book. Sorry about that, it's hard to avoid. I will do further spoiler space for even more specific spoilery bits.

I'm going to give this three stars. I was missing a lot of the fun that was in previous books, and I do feel like more should have happened than it did. That said, the overall plot was still pretty fascinating/nervewracking to me, even if it's still not quite all baked yet.

Frank Walton, dying of cancer, leaves his home in the remote Montana mountains to go to Brighton Beach, home of other Russians (he secretly is one). He gets spotted by someone who recognizes his old identity, Vaclav Waller, and chooses to kill himself rather than go along to be interrogated.

Since Frank/Vaclav faked his own death in a plane crash decades ago, naturally the local cops and the feds are rather confused to see whose prints turn up in the system. Also suspicious is that "Frank Waller" somehow managed to fly home to Montana after his death. So FBI agent Jack Dolan flies out to Braden, Montana to see what's up.

What he finds there is an eerily gorgeous girl, Isabella, whose dad just died, and she's devastated to find out that "Uncle Frank" died as well. Then again, she's got five other honorary scientist/doctor uncles, some of which run the local fertility clinic. There appears to be something suspicious going on with said clinic, since the remaining guys are working on a secret project that apparently hasn't gone very well. Meanwhile, Frank's killer is skulking around the place.

Jack and Isabella fall in love pretty much instantly--they seem like nice enough folks, but I don't feel like either of them had all that much personality enough for me to care. I felt like Jack in particular was drawn in pretty broad "this is what an FBI agent is like, has a lot of scars and no personal life and there's your uncle" strokes, and Isabella is nice but bizarrely sheltered somehow. The actual mystery is strange but guessable/slightly weird.